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I've read the first two issues of World's Finest now. It has some of my favorite talent on it. Paul Levitz, George Perez, Kevin Maguire.

And yet... it doesn't look to me like something any of those people would create. Where is the George Perez of Teen Titans and Crisis on Infinite Earths fame? Where is the Paul Levitz who gave us some of the best Legion stories ever? Where the Maguire of Justice League International?

I am disappointed in what I received with two great characters, we get a forgettable villian, costumes I'm not crazy about (well, one, anyway) and not much in the way of explanation as to what's going on. What? Karen managed to create a big-name, international company out of nothing in 5 years? How'd that happen?

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ArrynAsk not the InnkeeperFor destiny is thy name!Registered Userregular

The "Karen builds a company" thing is kind of explained between the lines; Helena sets them up with some stolen (from Wayne Enterprises) cash early on and then Karen supplements that with using her powers to find rare elements to sell.

But yeah, there's been some discussion (some in this very thread even) about how George Perez has not aged well, as far as his art is concerned. I don't like the way he draws Helena, which sucks because I loved the way he drew her in COIE.

As far as the story goes, I'm hoping Levitz is just trying to get the ball rolling.

Unfortunately all the scripts are going back to committee unfortunately, all the scripts are going through okays, changes by the time I get it there’s not enough for me to contribute it. So the fact that I can put my personality… I fact I’m working with Paul Levitz on World’s Finest. Paul, like everyone else is being told we need you to go full script on that, we have to okay it. But Paul knows, if I get full script and this thing takes place in one page and… there’s not enough going on on that page, I would change things, add some extra scenes. Paul says “don’t worry George, whatever you put in, I trust you, I’ll rewrite it.” Paul and I have known each other since we were teenagers, so it’s Kinda nice to work that way. I’m hoping that my future projects will allow me that leeway.

Somebody else basically to tell someone like I am, how to draw or choreograph a comic book. I think I’ve been doing it enough time. There are a lot of artists in my position having the same experience. Let us do we’ve been doing, in my case for going on four decades and have have a modicum amount of success in it.

----

I had no idea Grant Morrison was going to be working on another Superman title, I had no idea I was doing it five years ahead, which means, my story I couldn’t do certain things without knowing what he did, and Grant wasn’t telling everybody, so I was kind of stuck,who exists, DC couldn’t give me answers. Oh my gosh, you’re deciding all these things and you mean even you don’t know what’s going on in your books… so I became very frustrated…

By now, I think it's a pretty foregone conclusion that the DCU was haphazardly slapped together. But, I think it's a bit sad to see industry veterans like Levitz and Perez going through an unusual amount of editorial interference.

I get that Morrison is one of the best selling writers and because of that he takes precedence over others, but there is a continuing theme of him not telling others who need to know exactly what he's doing on the books he writes. I'm not saying this to criticize, just to point out. This is the third time I can remember reading something about this. He always waited to turn in scripts for New X-Men at the last minute, partly to get stuff past editorial, and he did the same thing on his Batman run. It's less of a thing when you're writing JLA or a stand alone series that doesn't have 2-3 other titles that reflect off of what you're doing. This is why All Star Superman was so good, isolated and Grant allowed to do what he wanted when he wanted. Because that first issue of Superman was so, so bad, and all the dialogue now looks like it was added by editorial at the last minute.

Does Perez have a contract with DC? If not Marvel should be asking him how about drawing an Avengers arc following AvX. And maybe seeing if Busiek has a story to tell...

Wait, let me rephrase that. I would kill to have more Superman comics worth discussing. When I last stopped keeping up with comics, Superman held on as the very last thing that I dropped. Granted, that was in the heat of New Krypton and it was pretty consistently good.

I'm only three issues though the current Superman series, and I'm going to have to force myself to catch up one of these days. Zero interest in Supergirl and Superboy too, when I adored the whole lineup before. The way that every Super~ title was all one continuous story at the time really helped. I really miss having that. It would drive me nuts with some groups of characters, but for Superman it seemed perfect.

I still wait with open arms and open wallet for each new Action Comics though.

All right, thanks to Amazon and my local comic shop, I now own all 9 issues of the New 52 Aquaman and I'm loving it. This has to be the best Aquaman series yet for me.I'm actually appreciative of the new 52, an idea I was very skeptical of, because it allows them to restart Aquaman, and have everything else restart at the same time, more or less, and do away with a bunch of the baggage Aquaman has accumulated over the years. he's back to being his brooding, prickly self, with powers that almost rival Superman's. Or at least Wonder Woman's.

Mera is by his side again, he hasn't lost a son yet (who knows what the future holds), there's no missing hand, and he isn't so weighted down with guilt and regret that he can't function. That side of him is there, in more tolerable levels, the way it should always have been. When your hero's character trait actually tears the character apart, it is no longer a character trait, and becomes a fatal flaw. Villians have those because the villian needs to be defeated. Heroes have things they have to overcome, not be smothered under for years at a time.

I'm liking this new take on Aquaman, and I hope it continues for a good, long while.

Edit: I also love how in the art for the first issue cover, you can see the reflection of a sea monster coming at Aquaman in his trident, then in the art for the second issue cover, you can see the reflection of Arthur, in the pose from the first issue cover, in the eye of the sea monster.

Been recounting events of the DCnU, I think the thing that has my interest piqued the most right now is the little man from Action Comics. Morrison seems to be setting him up to be a big deal, considering he has been amassing Superman villains across both time and separate universes. I assume it's Mr. Mxyzptlk but you never know, Grant has created a ton of new villains for Action Comics that we've only seen brief glimpses of.
He's shown up in about seven issues so far, and there have been frequent references to him being the devil, making "deals" with people.

"The poem is definitely my starting point. I mean, Beowulf was the original English-language superhero. But my Beowulf departs from the classic one most obviously in that it's set in a future where the great cities of the 21st Century are gone, replaced by feudal kingdoms that sprang up in a permanent nuclear winter. Old military installations have been converted into castles and fortresses.

Readers will recognize certain locations, weapons and 'monsters' as artifacts of our age, but like in 'Samurai Jack' or 'Thundarr the Barbarian' the characters in 'Beowulf' see everything strictly in medieval terms. Old plane hangars and missile silos are now mead halls and dungeons; old war-bots known as 'Iron Trolls' still patrol ancient battlefields, and the descendants of super-soldier/bioweapon programs are the demigods and monsters of the day. Beowulf is one of these, but whether he is god or monster remains to be seen.

In the original, he was the ultimate warrior -- like Hercules or Perseus. In 'Sword Of Sorcery' Beowulf is a bio-enhanced super-soldier, less Captain America than 'Nuke' from 'Daredevil: Born Again.' He's huge, intimidating, and wired for violence with a hair-trigger temper -- a ticking time bomb in any gathering.

He's tactically brilliant but sees almost everything in military terms. The fun of the story is that you never know which way he'll go. You only know that anyone who gets within ten feet of him is risking his life -- and his poor travelling companion Wiglaf is a fourteen year-old kid trying like hell to keep this walking weapon aimed at the right targets. He's bringing Beowulf home to save his people from Grendel, but he knows Beowulf is just as likely to wipe out his people as any monster."

I love the idea of that setting, but a dour, joyless protagonist doesn't sound particularly interesting, even if Wiglaf will presumably be acting as the audience's viewpoint character.

I get that Morrison is one of the best selling writers and because of that he takes precedence over others, but there is a continuing theme of him not telling others who need to know exactly what he's doing on the books he writes. I'm not saying this to criticize, just to point out. This is the third time I can remember reading something about this. He always waited to turn in scripts for New X-Men at the last minute, partly to get stuff past editorial, and he did the same thing on his Batman run. It's less of a thing when you're writing JLA or a stand alone series that doesn't have 2-3 other titles that reflect off of what you're doing. This is why All Star Superman was so good, isolated and Grant allowed to do what he wanted when he wanted. Because that first issue of Superman was so, so bad, and all the dialogue now looks like it was added by editorial at the last minute.

Does Perez have a contract with DC? If not Marvel should be asking him how about drawing an Avengers arc following AvX. And maybe seeing if Busiek has a story to tell...

Not communicating properly with co-workers, especially in a multi-title universe, is something that deserves criticism over. Comics are a team sport. I expect this from idiotic editors, not critically acclaimed writers.

Unfortunately all the scripts are going back to committee unfortunately, all the scripts are going through okays, changes by the time I get it there’s not enough for me to contribute it. So the fact that I can put my personality… I fact I’m working with Paul Levitz on World’s Finest. Paul, like everyone else is being told we need you to go full script on that, we have to okay it. But Paul knows, if I get full script and this thing takes place in one page and… there’s not enough going on on that page, I would change things, add some extra scenes. Paul says “don’t worry George, whatever you put in, I trust you, I’ll rewrite it.” Paul and I have known each other since we were teenagers, so it’s Kinda nice to work that way. I’m hoping that my future projects will allow me that leeway.

Somebody else basically to tell someone like I am, how to draw or choreograph a comic book. I think I’ve been doing it enough time. There are a lot of artists in my position having the same experience. Let us do we’ve been doing, in my case for going on four decades and have have a modicum amount of success in it.

----

I had no idea Grant Morrison was going to be working on another Superman title, I had no idea I was doing it five years ahead, which means, my story I couldn’t do certain things without knowing what he did, and Grant wasn’t telling everybody, so I was kind of stuck,who exists, DC couldn’t give me answers. Oh my gosh, you’re deciding all these things and you mean even you don’t know what’s going on in your books… so I became very frustrated…

By now, I think it's a pretty foregone conclusion that the DCU was haphazardly slapped together. But, I think it's a bit sad to see industry veterans like Levitz and Perez going through an unusual amount of editorial interference.

DC's been like this ever since Didio took over. IIRC that's why Shooter left DC when his last Legion run ended. Harras using massive editorial interference is not a surprise. This was a tactic he used when he was Marvel's EIC. The core X-men titles were known for being severely editorialized. At least during Seagal and Kelly's runs.

Harry Dresden on June 2012

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ArrynAsk not the InnkeeperFor destiny is thy name!Registered Userregular

Let's talk Justice League for a second. I like this week's issue, the villain has some potential and the information-gathering angle is a cool tactic. I'm also enjoying this take on Cyborg. They've amped his power levels and he seems pretty badass.

But once again, the whole timeline thing seems to just not jive. All of the in-fighting and "we don't know each other" stuff really seems like the sort of thing that should have ironed itself out over the past five years. Now, if you tell me this story takes place a year after the first arc, I might buy it. But it just seems a stretch at this point.

Let's talk Justice League for a second. I like this week's issue, the villain has some potential and the information-gathering angle is a cool tactic. I'm also enjoying this take on Cyborg. They've amped his power levels and he seems pretty badass.

But once again, the whole timeline thing seems to just not jive. All of the in-fighting and "we don't know each other" stuff really seems like the sort of thing that should have ironed itself out over the past five years. Now, if you tell me this story takes place a year after the first arc, I might buy it. But it just seems a stretch at this point.

Well it seems like the new League isn't like the old one, or the DCAU one even

they don't hang out together and all relax in the Watchtower waiting for threats

the team forms up only when there is something to do

which means they probably don't have all that much socializing time. I mean, Green Lantern and Flash are friends. Superman and Batman are. It seems Wonder Woman and Aquaman are as well. But the team as a whole? Nah.

I read halfway through Frankenstein #10 in the LCS today and had to put it back, it's got a problem where there's so much talking and not much doing, even though there are things going on all around everyone, but all they do is talk. There's this interesting new world we see that is kind of topsy turvey but not completely bizarro, but it feels like the new writer is suffering from Kirkmanitis. And Frank seems to have gone deep into his ye olde style of talkinge, where Lemire had his milady's and use of eloquent speak pepper Frank's words, here it's seems the default way. Something just felt off about it.

Let's talk Justice League for a second. I like this week's issue, the villain has some potential and the information-gathering angle is a cool tactic. I'm also enjoying this take on Cyborg. They've amped his power levels and he seems pretty badass.

But once again, the whole timeline thing seems to just not jive. All of the in-fighting and "we don't know each other" stuff really seems like the sort of thing that should have ironed itself out over the past five years. Now, if you tell me this story takes place a year after the first arc, I might buy it. But it just seems a stretch at this point.

Well it seems like the new League isn't like the old one, or the DCAU one even

they don't hang out together and all relax in the Watchtower waiting for threats

the team forms up only when there is something to do

which means they probably don't have all that much socializing time. I mean, Green Lantern and Flash are friends. Superman and Batman are. It seems Wonder Woman and Aquaman are as well. But the team as a whole? Nah.

Much as you can make an argument as to why they wouldn't be

for me the JLA's best incarnation was the Morrison/Waid stuff and in that they were all pretty clearly good friends

the JLA should totally get along well, and not constantly bicker.

Yes, this might be a new league! That does bicker! But I don't like it nearly as much.